Usually I like being a regular, as it results in better service and some friendly chatter if I'm dining alone. But the new waiter at my favorite restaurant really creeped me out recently with the excess familiarity and a rambling New-Agey monologue in place of reasonably timed service and getting me my check in the looooong minutes I was waiting.
Everybody dies, Tracey. Someone's carrying a bullet for you right now, doesn't even know it. The trick is to die of old age before it finds you.
Mal ,'The Message'
Natter 43: I Love My Dead Gay Whale Crosspost.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Matt the Bruins fan - Mar 03, 2006 5:00:11 am PST #1089 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
sarameg - Mar 03, 2006 5:02:14 am PST #1090 of 10001
There's a 7-11 that has my order bagged and rung up by the time I enter the shop. I used to try rotating shops because it freaked me out, but I gave up. They call me by name now.
Sue - Mar 03, 2006 5:03:42 am PST #1091 of 10001
hip deep in pie
I kind of like being a regular, but then you just have some days where you want to do your thing and not be sociable, or even polysyllabic. Then it's difficult.
§ ita § - Mar 03, 2006 5:04:08 am PST #1092 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I don't use a fake name (although I have used my middle name in the past) at this Bean, since I flash my work ID to get a discount, and it just makes things more complicated rather than less.
It's the assuming that they know what I want that bugs me. Somehow in my past counter staff seemed invested in me getting the same thing every time, and looked disappointed when I changed my order--especially if they'd already started making it up.
Theodosia - Mar 03, 2006 5:04:46 am PST #1093 of 10001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
Whether I want to be known as a regular depends on how creepifying the staff is. I was surprised by the BK staff around the corner from work recognizing me and my usual purchases, but then it's by far the most pleasant BK I've ever been in by far.
TomW - Mar 03, 2006 5:05:05 am PST #1094 of 10001
"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
At the bagel place I used to go to (I stopped when they installed TV monitors that force Fox News into people waiting in line), they would ask for a name so they could call when the order was ready.
The name would be written on the order.
About 25% of the time that meant that I ended up with tomato on my bagel.
Jesse - Mar 03, 2006 5:05:52 am PST #1095 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
About 25% of the time that meant that I ended up with tomato on my bagel.
Now THAT is a good reason to use a fake name!
TomW - Mar 03, 2006 5:07:52 am PST #1096 of 10001
"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
Now THAT is a good reason to use a fake name!
Seriously. But by the time I figured out what was going on, they had started to remember my name. Takes balls to start using a fake name when both sides know that it's fake.
Nora Deirdre - Mar 03, 2006 5:07:56 am PST #1097 of 10001
I’m responsible for my own happiness? I can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast! (Bojack Horseman)
I had to stop going to the burrito place on campus because one of the guys would call out my burrito as soon as he saw me. When I would attempt to order anything else, it resulted in mass confusion. I also sometimes suspect he is making fun of me. But I am paranoid, and once you add in discussion in another language right in front of me, that raises that ante.
Though I ducked in there last week after acertaining this particular individual was not in, and was able to have a nice burrito that was not my old "regular."
§ ita § - Mar 03, 2006 5:08:03 am PST #1098 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
It used to make me laugh how the cashier would write my name down phonetically, but the drink-maker would read it as something even further from the correct pronunciation.
Sometimes they'd ask how to spell it, but that's not the point, is it? They should have a code, like they do in dictionaries to convey pronunciation independent of our alphabet's vagaries.